The Internet has been amazingly quiet about IBM’s litigation
against Amazon. It feels to me like maybe the biggest Internet
story of, well, maybe, ever. I haven’t gone and read the IBM
patents yet, because reading patents always depresses me. If the
titles mean anything (not always a sure bet), this might mean
that IBM has finally managed to figure out how to set up that
Internet Tollbooth that we’ve always been afraid of.

Among the patents they’re claiming Amazon is infringing upon includes one titled “Ordering Items Using an Electronic Catalogue”.

I certainly can’t stand the idea of software competition being resolved (and eventually stymied) via patent litigation — but somehow I get the feeling that the company behind the infamous One-Click patent isn’t going to get much sympathy.